Baseball and Hot Dogs: American Culture 101

Baseball-little-league

Text and above photo (my nephew Joe) by: Corey Amaro

Right in the middle of watching the Giant's on T.V. my son Sacha ran into the room, excited he blurted out, "Hey you guys, can you change the channel, my girlfriend is being interviewed on the other channel. She is the Athlete of the Week!"

 

 

(click here for photo source)

Now you must remember that though Sacha is half American, and living in the States at the moment, and dating a Californian girl, that does not make him 100 percent American, nor does he fully get the part of American culture that includes: Baseball, Hot-dogs and notinterrupting during the World Series.

 

Ball Field

(Photo source click here.)

 

I was told that those gathered by the T.V. in the family room barely noticed Sacha, let along responded to his request…. except for my brother Mathew who simply looked up at Sacha and said, "No. Get outta here, are you mad?" Then laughed and shook his head.

How to Tips to Turn Your Fantasy Baseball Season Around

(photo source click here.)

Sacha was perplexed, later he told me, "Gee, what's the big deal… it was only a click away to watch Miss Rival (That will be Sacha's girlfriend's name for now.) for a minute or so?!"

"The World Series is a big deal… kind of like soccer in France," I offered. Sacha wasn't sold, maybe that is because we were never big sports fan, nor watch T.V.

 

http://www.amateurgourmet.com/D1172%7EHot-Dogs-Posters.jpg

(Photo source click here)

With his request rejected, Sacha walked out of the family room into the kitchen. The kitchen table was loaded with hot-dogs, buns, mayonnaise, catsup, mustard, onions, pickle relish… all the makings for a hot-dog extraordinaire. Sacha grabbed a hot-dog bun. My brother in the family room noticed, keeping one eye on the game, and one eye on the vegetarian loading up the hot-dog bun. My brother Mathew said, "Yeah, there he was the French vegetarian who doesn't have a clue about baseball, the world series, dating the rival school's homecoming queen, loading up one of the last remaining hot-dog buns. I thought to myself he doesn't even eat hot-dogs, what is he doing."

Mathew and zane

(Photo of my brother Mathew and brother Zane)

You gotta know that my brother Mathew is fiesty. Loving but fiesty. Funny as ever and a stinker too. He is most like my mother. His humor and lectures go hand in hand.

Sacha loaded his hot-dog bun with every topping available except for the main ingredient. That was the dog that broke the camel's back, my brother jumped up, left the golden tube in the middle of the world series, snatched the bun before it entered Sacha's mouth.

http://blog.beliefnet.com/stevenwaldman/imgs/white%20bread.jpg

 

"Sacha, Sacha, Sacha…. you gotta know that the hot-dog buns are of a premium around here… if you are not going to stick a hot-dog in that bun, then eat bread instead." Teased my brother Mathew, nevertheless grabbing the bun and sticking a hot-dog in it and eating it himself.

Buns and dogs.

Sort of like bread and butter.

 

american_flag_with_baseball.jpg

(Photo Source click here.)

Sacha stood empty handed. American culture 101:

Do not ask to change the channel during the Word Series, and do not use a hot-dog bun for a sandwich.

 

 



Comments

30 responses to “Baseball and Hot Dogs: American Culture 101”

  1. Darn! I thought we were going to get to see a picture of Sasha’s girlfriend. And, now I want a hot dog.
    ~elaine~

  2. Julie Loeschke

    Amen! 🙂

  3. I wish we had a photo of Sacha at the moment Uncle Matt took the newly loaded hotdog bun from him!

  4. Poor Sacha, culture shock can be hard.

  5. Poor Sasha – tell him for me it’s okay, he doesn’t have to eat the actual dog in his bun. I know a lot of people who eat the same way – no meat.

  6. Poor Sasha – It is difficult to go against the grain. 🙂 I know Miss Rival is cute.

  7. Corey, corey, corey…
    American 101
    Ketchup!
    Catsup is for the kitties (and Brits)!

  8. Ah, French and American culture…hand to hand {bread to bun} combat!!

  9. Ketchup has no place in a hot dog.

  10. What a bun-ner!!!
    Tell Sasha to come to Vienna,
    where there is no dearth of buns
    at the Würstlstand! 🙂

  11. Brenda L from TN

    OUCH!!!…Poor Sacha…Americans are truly passionate about their sports all that they entail. Sorry about the bun but I and my sons eat buns as if they were bread too;so tell him not to worry about no hot dog on his bun…mustard, chili, onions and pickle relish sound pretty good to me.

  12. Never come between a man and his game, or try to make his hot dog bunless.

  13. Top dog gets the hot dog bun!! Moral of the story….buy extra hot dog buns. I bet his girlfriend’s family recorded her interview, so he may not have missed out on it.

  14. Dear Corey, I’m missing France. Will you be back there soon? Happy Halloween!

  15. Denise Solsrud

    that’s the way it is here. sports is number 1 and thats it. believe me. i have been married to a sports lover for 41 years and he gets more serious about it with every year. so much so that it sent our daughter,husband and kids home just after they arrived. son-in-law said something negative about the favorite team. i stood there with my mouth open as they packed up and left. i am serious! truly we all get along very well,and have great times together. so, as i said, sports are big here. Bestest,Denise

  16. Too funny!!! Your brothers must be over the moon with the way the Giants are trouncing the Rangers. Yep, I’m a baseball fan and it is the only time I will eat a hotdog. They seem to taste better while watching a game, plus you forget what is in them!

  17. This is the same brother who left you uncollected when you arrived the airport, because he “forgot”?
    If I may invoke the sublime Carolyn Hax:
    WOW!
    (Not in a good way, either).

  18. Laurie SF

    This is why my school girl crush was always on your Brother Mark and not Matt…so, feisty was he. The photo of Matt and Zane. Wow. How they’ve….ag….ahem, I mean how they’ve grown.
    Go Giants!

  19. Lets hope Sacha teaches them a thing or two about French culture 🙂

  20. dear corey
    i accidently came across your site while lookinng for french brocante over the net, fed up with with hope while entering into a site that it might have some real stuff and affordable, but everytime its cheap reproduction and great disappointment, i was on the similar kkind of expedition when struck your site day before yesterday and believe me i am on till this very moment, i mean i am very bad to express but when i read all you wrote about the village, antiques, braseries, cooking, it was like i am talking to myself. i was married 3 years ago, and fortunstely my husband had no furniture so since then i am trying to bring that french charm everywhere around my house and keep thing about it, hardly ever found things that i die for, like an armoire, dresser , bonnetiere ,….but now when i read your stuff its like i am kiving what i dreamt of thank you for reading my mind…
    you new admirer
    iram

  21. dear coray!
    lots of mistakes in the comment i just posted; i submitted without reading it, so embarrassed, well good lesson for future!!!

  22. Hard lessons to learn.

  23. Buy vegetarian hot dogs for Sacha. Or grill some whole zucchini and put them in the bun. 🙂
    I’ve been meaning to say how much I enjoy the updates on your kids. I think we all wish “what if.” What if I had chosen this school instead of that, how would I have turned out? What if I had done this instead of that? What if I had lived here instead of there?
    So it’s a rare opportunity for Sacha to be able to live out that “what if.” It’s interesting that he chose to re-live high school. I guess I thought he’d find a job and just live there for a year. Will he apply to American colleges too then?

  24. That is one thing we do here in the US is have a lot of FUN with our sports. I know a man at work who has Direct TV and wathes eight games (football) concurrently every Sunday. We went to the Cardinal/Saints game and the best part for me (besides winning) was walking through the tail gate sections. They take their pre-game BBQ’s so seriously and have so much fun. I got caught up in the hype bought the cutest Cardinal top (with bling) and I wear it when we watch them on TV.
    OMG it would be a sacrilege to turn off the world series in a room full of SF fans. I know when our Diamondbacks won the World series it was so awesome! And the trophy, designed by Tiffany, is more beautiful in person.
    So how does one explain our love of sports to others outside the US? Can’t explain it…just understand that sports are big here, big $$, big talent, big everything. I taught myself the rules of football so I wouldn’t be a football widow. But now I’m the one asking, who’s playing this weekend…let’s go the the sports bar and watch the Bears (DH’s team).
    As for hotdogs and eating a bun with no hotdog…probably a lesser crime but still a crime to those who love baseball and all the trimmings.
    These are unwritten rules of US sports that may not make sense unless you grow up with it. That’s one area we don’t share with our international friends…the Superbowl means nothing to them and to us…well game day starts early and the parties! I keep rambling and still can’t explain it.

  25. The same goes for RUGBY in South Africa! To make it perfect, just add a ‘braai'(barbeque)!

  26. Sorry to say it, but Matt sounds a little stingy. I recognize it because I have seen it in myself.
    First of all, it’s baseball, you could turn away from it for half an hour and nothing would have changed. Second of all, don’t be such a control freak. Wrap the hot dog in a bun yourself if the buns are gone, but let Sacha have a bun. Thirdly, Sacha is a grown up now, you don’t grab something out of his hand like he’s a toddler.

  27. I’ve been visiting in the Azores during both World Cup and European football (soccer) championships, so believe me when I tell you that sports fan enthusiasm is in no way unique to the US — for different sports, of course, but no less extreme.
    What fun it is to watch “football” matches in a café with a crowd of partisans! In fact, some of my Azorea fans are so dedicated to their sport that they’ll watch re-runs of matches, even though they already know the outcome, just because they consider them to have been well-played!

  28. Ack, that strange sentence in 2nd graf should’ve opened, “In fact, some of my AzoreaN friendss are such dedicated fans…”

  29. Third time should be the charm!!! Problem with the last two times was that, for reasons too tedious to explain, I’d had to use Farmboy Husband’s cumputer, whose keyboard is configured slightly differently from mine, as well as having a different “touch” (but now I’m back on my own machine, hooray!):
    Ack, that strange sentence in 2nd graf should’ve opened, “In fact, some of my Azorean friends are such dedicated fans…”

  30. “computer”
    Yikes, I just washed my fingers and I can’t do a THING with them!

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